Fried Shoes, Cooked Diamonds
A documentary on the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute, Boulder, Colorado. Founded by Allen Ginsberg and Ann Waldman in 1974, the school serves as a meeting point for poets of America and for the study and practice of poetry in western and oriental traditions.
Made by an Italian film crew for television in their own country, the film is a spontaneously made document of the work, personalities and varied antics of the summer faculty of the school where, among other things, a joyous reunion of the leading figures of the “beat generation” takes place. As well as some of their classic poetry, the film illustrates their varying attitudes towards writing, politics, religion and the adventure of consciousness in general. Many are seen getting arrested at a demonstration and poetry reading at Rocky Flats Nuclear Power Plant where Allen Ginsberg, who also provides his own highly subjective narration to the film, reads his “Plutonium Ode.”
In addition the film features more recent poets who have been influenced by the “beat” generation such as Ann Waldman and the Puerto Rican poet Miguel Pinero, author of the film Short Eyes.